“The rock that cannot be moved”

(Psalms 95:1) “Oh come, let us sing to the LORD; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!”

“The rock that cannot be moved” is a mantra that I have heard on more than one occasion. But with it comes such amazing stability! What rock has ever stood in the way of man’s exploits? Think on mankind tunneling though a mountain, an amazing feat and yet it is accomplished time after time. “The Eisenhower Tunnel, officially the Eisenhower–Johnson Memorial Tunnel,^[1] is a dual-bore, four-lane vehicular tunnel approximately 50 mi (80 km) west of Denver, Colorado, United States. With a maximum elevation of 11,158 ft (3,401 m) above sea level, it is one of the highest vehicular tunnels in the world.” (Wikipedia) - Here is a prime example of mankind and the achievements they are able to accomplish when they set their minds to something and yet there is a “rock that cannot be moved”! It is immoveable; it is anchored with a resolve that flies on the wings of eagles, high above the highest pinnacle and swims in the depths of the deepest seas. Come what may He cannot be moved!

From the beginning of time there has been no such man to accomplish what He has effectuated; He is “the rock that cannot be moved”! Men have ruled kingdom and conquered the globe and yet they have all been found wanting. Alexander the great, a man whose greed drove him to conquer regardless of who he took out along the way; Albert Einstein a man who had one of the greatest minds and yet they say he was a sex maniac; Samson the strongest man that ever lived and yet all it took was a woman to break his covenant with God! And we could continue to find men and woman through the ages of time who seem to have great resolve but we would eventually uncover some weakness; all in one form or another have been moved… And yet there was a man who was never moved, He never waived, He was never swayed from His objective; which was to do the will of His Father! In fact he had such opposition that the bible records the pressure he faced in the Garden of Gethsemane should have caused him to die… “saying, "Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done." And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” (Luke 22:42-44) - The rock that held true, even then, His love stood the test and held fast!

What of the time when He hung upon that cruel Roman Cross, alongside criminals being wrongfully accused; this then is how this account unfolded, as He look up into the heavens great sorrow flooded His soul and He cried; “And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?" that is, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"” (Matthew 27:46) – Yes even when God His Father turned His back upon His only begotten Son, because of our sin, He held true, “the rock that cannot be moved! Praise the mighty majestic name of my King, the Lord Jesus Christ!

Let me then conclude with this thought although we, if honest, would all come to the same conclusion, each and every one of us, rocks that are easily moved… Let us therefore flee to the “rock that cannot be moved”, the Lord Jesus; no matter where we may find ourselves we know that if we call on Him we shall be saved! Saved from our current distress and from the judgment yet to come!

Signing off

Tyrone      

  

The greatest of Shepherd's

My thoughts this morning ponder on how we all in some form or another through life’s journey have all been given very similar opportunities with the odd few handicapped. Not many are maimed in comparison to the majority; most have all their five senses intact! All have most certainly been give the same time in any given day; we all have 24 hours in which to do our commerce. I have often heard people quote, “do you know how busy I am”. And yet we all have been given the ability to slice any given day as we chose. I will concur that the pressures of life most certainly has its way in bleeding a stone as it were. Nevertheless we all follow a similar pattern through the throws of life; we are born, go through puberty and then on into our adult life. Some chose this while others chose that! It is also reasonably obvious that one man’s meat is another man’s poison. Some crack it as business entrepreneurs while others fail dismally in the same field. This in turn leaves many of us making bad choices through life! Sin taking its hold on us leaves many of us with regrets.  I could write a book on the bad choices I have made as a pilgrim along life’s journey. Be that as realistic as it may, we are not without any assurance, regardless of all the bad choices we still have hope, for those who at least belong to the Lord Jesus. “While we have breath we have hope!” Thank you Father God for your ability and choice to so easily forgive, without this glorious attribute unfolding in our lives we would be of all men most miserable.

This reality at times seems to be forgotten and yet our great Saviour the Lord Jesus, the greatest of Shepard’s does not neglect His duty and leaves the ninety-nine as he seeks out the lost; praise His glorious name! “I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice.” (Ezekiel 34:16)

For all who think they have reached their end and life is no longer worth living call out even now to the greatest of Shepard’s and He will come to your aid, the bible has so declared this to be true! “For "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."” (Romans 10:13)

Signing off

Tyrone    

Evidence of a good man...

Romans 12:21 “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

There has been much to-do about Nelson Mandela this week. One could almost say that his death has enforced the gathering of the masses in somewhat of a new light, people from all corners of the globe flocking to pay him a final tribute. Although his corpse lay in an open coffin with rigamortis having set in, in fact without the help of ice, dry ice or an embalming agent for his body it would be well on its way to stinking with decay setting in! And yet queues gathered overnight with a cold stony floor as their bed in anticipation that they would get one last glimpse of him; this empty shell that once hosted the great Nelson Mandela on view for all to see. With queues so long that many where disappointingly turned away. A man that achieved much in his life and one who has lived the example: Not only a talker but a doer. Was this man a Christian, God knows! And so I will leave that topic alone but what I will say is here was a man that proved this very verse… “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Romans 12:21)

A man who somehow understood the value of what the Apostle Paul taught the church at Rome some 2000 years ago! I cannot with any assurance declare that the book of Romans was his source of inspiration. And yet the principles that he lived his life by most certain shadow that teaching. Just like most other values that carry any water with good attached to them all if taking back to their roots hinge on the foundation teachings of the bible! A man that had such an effect on the world that even after he had passed the masses from across the globe flocked and continues to flock to pay him homage.

There is much to be learnt from this event; did you know in type that there is a day coming when the world will forbid burying another two men; devout men of God whom the world will come against and seek their death like no other. Bin Laden will be child’s play in comparison and yet they are God’s chosen for that very hour! They too will be on display! People will be so happy to see them dead that they will send presents to one another celebrating their death. And yet God as always will have the final say, praise His glorious name! “And when they have finished their testimony, the beast that rises from the bottomless pit will make war on them and conquer them and kill them, and their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city that symbolically is called Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was crucified. For three and a half days some from the peoples and tribes and languages and nations will gaze at their dead bodies and refuse to let them be placed in a tomb, and those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and make merry and exchange presents, because these two prophets had been a torment to those who dwell on the earth. But after the three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood up on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them. Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, "Come up here!" And they went up to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies watched them. And at that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.” (Revelation 11:7-13)

Nelson Mandela the man known as “Madiba” such an inspiration to so many has above all things got me to consider this very verse… Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Obviously the greatest example of all would be the Lord Jesus Christ, the man who willingly went to the cross accused of wrong-doing and yet He was without sin, my hero! And the Icon of so many of us, but I wonder how many of us have learnt to appropriate this verse? “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Romans 12:21) – Just as He willingly applied it his life!

Signing off

Tyrone

     

Comfort for the heart...

2Thessolonians 2:17 “comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.”

What is it that takes our eyes off that which is important for our lives, both here on earth and the life to come, the hereafter! I suppose that being an open ended question could have a thousand retorts, nevertheless when we strip it down we are left with one little word SIN, an everyday manifestation that constantly gnaws at our conscience, which has had an influential influence on all from the beginning of time.  I am tempted to say bar the Lord Jesus; although He miraculously never yielded to sin, to say it never had any bearing on His life would not be accurate. He was summoned to earth by His Father (God Almighty) with one objective in mind, to do the will of His Father which was to defeat sin once and for all… His goal, to defeat sin in a man’s body! A flesh and blood body we have all been given and yet we have all fallen privy to sin in one form or another, we are all guilty as charged!

“Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—“ (Romans 5:12)

We are very quick to want to excuse ourselves from our own sin as we accuse others; this may well carry water here on earth as we gather audiences to nod their heads concurring with our self-justification, but not before God! “For the wages of sin is death…” (Romans 6:2)  

Let us use an analogy to help us understand what that verse teaches us;- a law is passed by the government declaring that the speed limit is 60km per hour, a man then travels along that road at 70 km per hour, a trap records his vehicle travelling over the speed limit. Is he guilty of breaking the law? Another man travels at 120 km per hour and is also caught by the same trap, is he guilty of breaking the law? They are both guilty as charged! Therefore if we had to reason as we all do through the throws of life, “but I wasn’t going as fast as the other man, or I am not as bad as that person; this type of rationale can and will never excuse us of our sin. Just as both men were guilty of speeding so too will all be guilty of sin. The punishment will be harsher for the man travelling at 120 km per hour but yet both will be penalized!

The Lord Jesus came to pay the price for our sin: who will then be forgiven from their penalty of sin? Those who are covered by His righteousness!  In other words; “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23)

Although all have sinned many will escape judgment because of the free gift of God. Who then shall escape judgment? All who call upon Him seeking His forgiveness for their sin! Do they deserve forgiveness? Absolutely Not! All have broken God’s law! Some may have travelled through life at 70km per hour while others have motored along at 120km per hour; nevertheless all are guilty of sin in one form or another. Why then do some respond to the free gift of God while others dismiss it as baloney? Here is just one of the many reasons the Bible teaches us why… They suppress the truth; many will give place to the planet (earth) and the saving of it, but refuse to acknowledge the One who created it! “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.” (Romans 1:18-20)

Therefore sin is our greatest enemy as it will always look to take our eyes off what is of most importance… The will of God the Father! This then is our battle even after we have been saved, that is why this verse is so comforting; “comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.” (2Thessolonians 2:17)

“Comfort is a means of establishment; for the more pleasure we take in the word, and work, and ways of God, the more likely we shall be to persevere therein. And, 2. Our establishment in the ways of God is a likely means in order to comfort; whereas, if we are wavering in faith, and of a doubtful mind, or if we are halting and faltering in our duty, no wonder if we are strangers to the pleasures and joys of religion. What is it that lies at the bottom of all our uneasiness, but our unsteadiness in religion? We must be established in every good word and work, in the word of truth and the work of righteousness: Christ must be honoured by our good works and good words; and those who are sincere will endeavour to do both, and in so doing they may hope for comfort and establishment, till at length their holiness and happiness be completed.” (Matthew Henry)

As underserving as my example through life has sadly proved to be, yet will I rejoice in the Lord for He has made a way for the struggling pilgrim!  How is it that some of us lose our way and yet God still finds it in his heart to open our eyes when they have been so tightly shut, praise His glorious name, now and forever more. All hail King Jesus! A shepherd like no other!

Signing off

Tyrone